Monday, September 27, 2010

Tennessee is 91% fluoridated: "The dental clinic, which mostly does pain management and tooth extractions, has seen volume rise from 300 patients per month to more than 400 starting in 2009, said coordinator Allison Taylor. Often, the patients work part time and don’t have benefits, and lately many have been laid off and lost their insurance, she said.

Many are in severe pain, she said.

“Everybody that walks in the door is not poverty-stricken. They’re just in a bad situation at that point in time,” she said. “People drive up in these nice cars and say, ‘Hey, we just don’t have insurance. I just cannot afford $200 to $300 when I walk in the door’” at a dentist’s office.

Even for those do have insurance, high-deductible plans that require big out-of-pocket payments can put some services out of reach, Bond said"